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The Tenth Hold	By : Singalmo Category: +A through F > Elder Scrolls - Skyrim Views: 23706 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Elder Scrolls : Skyrim, or anything related to it. This fiction is purely for entertainment and I do not profit from it in any way.

Chapter List
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The life of Seved Kron had not precisely been an easy one. Like most people of Tamriel, however, his life had been fairly decent. His father, Bran, had been a sailor and fisherman in Riften for many years and was no stranger to combat, having once worked for the East Empire Company. His mother, Ilse, was a talented seamstress, and many coveted her work. Seved was uncertain as to precisely where he was born, though he was sure it was either Riften or Windhelm, considering the timing. He was born in 4E 171, eight days before the Aldmeri invaded Cyrodiil and the Great War began. His father, whom he only ever knew by some excellent drawings that his mother’s friend had made of the family just after Seved’s birth, being a good Nord and citizen of the Empire, volunteered to join the Legion and away he went. Seved’s mother stayed in Windhelm along with a number of other women whose husbands, brothers, and sons had joined up. Seved remembers the letters that his mother cherished so much, the little information she received from her beloved husband. Bran was an accomplished swordsman and had promised to teach his young son once he returned from the war.

Sadly, Bran never did return. Three days after the Battle of Red Ring, Ilse received word that Bran had died in that battle. He had gone down fighting, as any true Nord would love to go. His last thoughts had been of his wife and son. His best friend, who had lived thanks to Bran’s heroism, brought to them Bran’s amulet of Talos, which according to Seved, she wore until her death. The compensation from the Empire would not be nearly enough for her to live on, but it was all that any of the widows had gotten. When news of the White-Gold Concordat reached Skyrim and what it entailed, Ilse packed her things and took her young son and fled into Morrowind. They got clear to Seyda Neen where she finally could find work again. Seved was four when they settled into their house which adjoined a market stall.

For the next six years, life for Seved was relatively peaceful. Ilse did not make large sums of money, but it was enough for them to live on and for her to continue her work. Seved made friends with the various children of Seyda Neen, without regard to race, or even class. Rich and poor were his friends. Certainly he had rivals, too, but this is the way it is with children. Life was good for the child Nord. The loss of his father never weighed heavily on him, and his happiness lifted the weight from his mother. It seemed that all was right with the world.

As all people know, however, life is not always good times. Sad times must come as well, and occasionally dangerous times, too. Such experiences test and temper us, shaping us into the people we are. For Seved, the first real test came in the form of a Khajiit trader looking to skirt the law. Ra’shani was a well known and respected trader in Morrowind. He was also a brilliant smuggler and drug lord. The wealthy Khajiit approached Ilse, quietly of course, with an offer that many would not refuse. Smuggle the moonsugar and skooma in the shipments of cloth that she received and Ra’shani’s men would bring in the cloth, leaving her what she needed, and taking the drugs. In return, it would double her profits, and Ra’shani would buy clothes from her, at least to keep things looking legitimate. Ilse, however, knew the great risks to such smuggling and what it would cost if she were caught. She politely, respectfully declined the offer. Seved recalled that Ra’shani approached Ilse several times with the same offer, and toward the end would increase the price of what he was willing to pay. Still, Ilse refused, being a proud Nord and a woman of her word. She would not help the criminal. Seved’s tenth birthday was the happiest day of his short life.

Two days after that was when tragedy struck, and Seved first heard the voice of what he now knows to be Nocturnal. Ra’shani’s men broke into Ilse’s home in the middle of the night. Seved had been awake and managed to keep away from the thugs because of the voice whispering directions to him. Where to go, when to move, when to hold still. They kidnapped Ilse and stole several valuables from the house. The thugs got away and not long afterward the city watch was doing what they could. Unfortunately, this was very little. Seved tended his mother’s stall every day after that, selling what merchandise she had left. His friends sometimes brought him money or food. The watch was sure that Ilse was still alive, and so had no reason to seize the house, so Seved at least had a home. His friends often brought him to their homes for dinner. It was a very long, difficult, and anxious two months for Seved. At last, there was a commotion in the canals and the children were ushered away from the scene. Seved was at last brought in to see what was going on. A body had been fished out of the water. It was covered, at that time, but when removing the sheet, there was no denying it. Seved confirmed that it was his mother. He had no money, he had no means, and he was only ten. There was no one who could care for him long term, and the house would be seized. Ra’shani gave it to one of his nieces who was a seamstress.

Seved managed to see the full terror of what had happened to his mother only once. Ilse was found naked, covered in bruises and rope burns. It was clear that the woman had been tortured and raped in the time she was gone. A rope had been around her neck when they found her, though it was unclear exactly how she had died. The image of his mother’s abused body haunted him for the next two years.

It was a hard two years, but Seved managed. He gives much credit to Nocturnal for whispering to him all that time, teaching him how to be a thief. Which locks to pick, which shadows concealed better, which purses to cut, which to leave alone. His charm for leadership began to show in that time. Other street urchins noticed his talent, his success. He started teaching them, organizing them. Soon he had an effective guild of street urchins all over Morrowind. He made plans. Ra’shani would pay, and pay hard. Two days after Seved’s twelfth birthday, it began. Slowly, one day at a time, the urchins stole and fenced everything of Ra’shani’s holdings that they could get hold of. He lost business, he lost money. He was near destitute. A member of house Telvanni, one of the few left, took over the cat’s business and rebuilt it. Ra’shani was forced into the streets, homeless, penniless. Now he was on even footing with Seved. On the streets of Morrowind, justice was hard, and those with power cared little so long as they didn’t have to clean up the mess. It was the second anniversary of the day Ilse’s body was found when Seved managed to capture Ra’shani and his two daughters. He’d stripped all of them and sold the two girls as slaves, quietly, to a group of warriors from Hammerfell. He knew precisely what would happen to them and he didn’t care.

Over the course of several days, the details of which I will not recount here for the sake of decency, Seved beat and tortured Ra’shani until the cat could take no more and expired pitifully. Seved took the body out and fed it to the slaughterfish. With his vengeance sated, and being of a better age to work, Seved turned away from the shadows for a while. By the time he was fourteen, he was turning into a fine young Nord. A strong, strapping lad, working whatever jobs he could find. Usually this was at the docks or warehouses where work was hard but rewarding. Mostly it kept him busy. The summer of his fourteenth year was unfortunately a little thin and he had gone back into the shadows once more, to supplement his legitimate income. Yet, Nocturnal’s whims are fickle, as any thief knows. That summer, he was careless, and was caught in a rather interesting position. The details of that summer I will leave for later, as they have their own part to play in the story proper. To summarize it, however, Seved lost his virginity that summer, and was one very happy adolescent Nord by the end of it.

Life for Seved began to settle into a sameness not long after that. He managed, at sixteen, to get picked up by a shipping company based in Cyrodiil. He picked up what little he owned and after his first few trips at sea, settled with a few other sailors in a house in the city of Anvil. There were four of them in that house and they lived there for many years. The slow twisting of Seved from a decent man into the silver-tongued menace that I have pleasure to call friend began on his first trip to Summerset Isle. This was where our paths began to converge. Seved was eighteen, not quite fully grown, but already a large, strapping Nord. It was there that he learned the hypocrisy of the Thalmor women.

A moment to differentiate between Altmer women and Thalmor women. Altmer women are, for the most part, perfectly normal, sane individuals. They still maintain the haughtiness and superiority that is common to Altmer, but they are not fools in any sense. Thalmor women are those who are ruled by the propaganda. Most are even more haughty than Altmer women. A surprisingly large number of Thalmor women are very much hypocrites, however. It is also not exclusive to women. Men have the same differentiation and hypocrisy.

Seved found himself verbally abused, berated, belittled, and even spat upon by Thalmor women when he was on the docks. This was annoying to the young Nord, but the other sailors told him to ignore it. It wasn’t just his Nord heritage that did it. It was also the fact that he was a Man and not a Mer. Indeed, he witnessed much of the same abuse visited upon other human sailors that were not Nords. Yet, when the working day drew to a close, the same women who shouted and insulted and spat were cloaked in darkness, beckoning those same sailors into alleys, back rooms, and upstairs lodgings in the inns, handing over hefty bags of coin for an hour or two of pleasure that they could not get from their own men. Seved found that he was quite popular with the Thalmor women. At first, it was a new face. Later, it was rumors of just what was hidden in his trousers. As he grew older, it was more than that.

Five years before the proper start of our story, Seved and his friends met a young Altmer girl with a problem. In truth, she should have been taken to a temple of Dibella to serve the goddess in her own way, loving freely those who needed it. However, being in the heart of the Aldmeri Dominion, she would have been restricted to only serve Altmer. Worse still, much of the girl’s family was utterly devoted to the Thalmor, so her ways were seen as wanton and abominable. She wanted out. She wanted a safe place to go and be herself. Seved agreed to help smuggle her out of the Summerset Isles.

She lived with Seved and his housemates for five years. A very happy five years for all of them. They took good care of her, and she took good care of them. She was happy, healthy, safe, and not going insane from desire. Yet, some people cannot leave well enough alone. A lone Thalmor agent had tracked the girl down, with the intent to take her back to the Dominion, but with the compromise that she could openly serve Dibella. He got into the house Seved shared with his fellow sailors and the girl. I was able to explain what had happened, then. Thalmor Agents have certain magics which are highly insidious in their application. In this instance, it was likely a spell to make the girl more sedate and pliable that had been the problem. Combined with a few other, more vicious spells, the girl was broken in the end. Seved came to her rescue and killed the Thalmor agent, but sadly, he was too late. He held her until she breathed her last.

Everything was a fog for Seved, then. He packed his things, contacted his housemates, and then left Anvil. He stayed away from settlements as he made his way north toward Bruma and the road up into Skyrim. He would run, hide, go to the one place where he could get lost and escape the Thalmor, if only for a while. His intent was to go to Windhelm, where he was sure friends of his mother still lived. He was careful in this stretch of the journey, knowing the dangers around Bruma and along the road into Skyrim.

He had just crossed the border when he noticed the Stormcloak retinue headed toward him. To his right, he spotted a man trying to steal a horse. He thought to turn around and go back, get out of the way of what would surely be a mess, try again when there were fewer people. Unfortunately for Seved, that was the moment when the Imperials sprang their trap. Ulfric Stormcloak and his retinue were caught in the snare, along with an unfortunate horse thief named Lokir, and Seved Kron, who was sure that at long last, his luck had finally run out, precisely two days after his thirtieth birthday.
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The Tenth Hold